Sly Cooper Animated Movie Coming In 2016

It looks like the world’s furriest criminal will be stealing a bit of the silver screen spotlight in a couple of years as Sony announces a CG animated movie for Sly Cooper, slated to release sometime in the decently distant future of 2016.

Announced today, Sly Cooper will step outside of the realm of video games in order to appear in his very own animated film, featuring lifelong cohorts Bentley the Turtle and Murray the Hippo. We found out in mid-2013 that similar video game icons Ratchet and his trusty companion, Clank, would be receiving the Hollywood treatment, so I suppose it only makes sense that another PlayStation legend would be making his way to theaters, too. (Fingers crossed on Crash Bandicoot?)

This news could come as bitter-sweet news if you happen to be a connoisseur of movies based on video games. Sometimes they’re a hit, like with the original Mortal Kombat, but, more often than not, they’re an epic miss. See Super Mario Bros. for reference. And then there are the video game movies that are so bad they’re ridiculously good, such as Street Fighter.

For fans of the series, one thing about the above trailer likely caught your attention: The characters look quite a bit different than their video game counterparts. According to Producer Brad Foxhoven, that was a conscious decision.

“When we met with PlayStation to discuss the film last year, we proposed that the CG art style would transfer best in the leap to the big screen,” Foxhoven explains. “Both PlayStation and Sucker Punch Productions (the original creators of the franchise) were kind enough to gie us the chance to make this idea a reality. After a few months of development, the team at Rainmaker, along with Director Kevin Munroe, nailed it.”

Foxhoven goes on to give the Sly Cooper movie a vague 2016 release date, meaning you’re likely to forget about its existence for well over a year before a “coming soon” trailer pops up and jogs the ole’ memory. Finally, it’ll also be viewable in 3D, for those of you who are into that sort of thing.

And, just in case you’ve been living under a rock these past 10 years or have no idea what the heck a “Thievius Raccoonus” is, here’s a quick gander at Sly and company’s latest outing for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time.